Obama to bail out Europe?

Washington : European Commission President José Manuel Barroso (R) speaks following a summit with US President Barack Obama November 28, 2011. (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan) / AFP

Officially it never was called an "Emergency summit." But with the European currency only days from collapse according to many economists, it was clear that European leaders came to beg the American president for help.

A closed-door conversation today between US President Barack Obama and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso dealt with, among other things, the ongoing crisis that is spreading out of the Eurozone and into the United States.

And according to statements courtesy of Obama, the time of American intervention could be coming soon, and at a monumental cost to the American public.

The European debt crisis, says the president, is of “huge importance” to the United States, and the Obama administration is “ready to do our part” in keeping the economy overseas afloat.

As Obama attempts to postpone the impeding crumbling of the American economy — and his own administration — the president could propose a bailout to the countries of the European Union that could cost taxpayers upwards of trillions. Given that RT reported earlier today on the massive bailout extended from the Federal Reserve to the biggest banks in the country between 2008 and 2010, an offering of trillions couldn’t be out of the question.

What could be, however, are the details of the deal.

Three years after the Fed first helped out the big banks, only today was it revealed that nearly $8 trillion went to the “too big to fail” institutions to prevent just that — a massive failure. With a failure overseas impacting the worldwide economy, Obama’s comments today could imply that American funds will go to preventing a collapse of the dozen-plus countries tied to the Euro.

A collapse of the Euro could cause detrimental consequences for the American economy — an economy that has proved unstable as most evident in the unemployment rate that seems to have stayed dire since Obama entered office in 2009. In hopes of securing the presidency during the 2012 election, Obama could stand to benefit by investing in the Euro and keeping those countries tied to the currency afloat. With closed-door talks and secret deals bringing forth these talks, however, discrete deals between his administration and European officials could cause concern for American voters over the president’s alleged transparency.

Also in question is whether or not America — teetering between a rebound readmission of a recession — can afford to invest upwards of trillions into foreign nations.

Failure to compromise on the country’s deficit dilemma by the congressional supercommittee caused a Capitol Hill freakout last week, and is slated to trigger over a trillion automatic spending cuts come 2013. With the country currently up in arms over those cuts — and how to handle them — a bailout for the Eurozone could come as a nail in the coffin for the president’s campaign for reelection. On the other hand, should Obama extend money to the EU, the Euro could become stabilized and lend to a resurgence of the American dollar.

“Could” is the keyword here.

"The events in Europe obviously have an impact on our economy. It's created a headwind for much of the year … and continues to create that headwind,"White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Monday. While the administration has acknowledged the impact both domestically and abroad of the crumbling Euro, Obama’s comments this afternoon are only the first to suggest that an intervention by way of the American dollar could be on the way.

"This is something they need to solve and they have the capacity to solve, both financial capacity and political will," Carney adds of today’s summit.

Carney adds that "We do not in any way believe that additional resources are required from the United States and from American taxpayers.”

What, exactly, is the “part” the Obama is “ready to do” to resolve the crisis then?